Will renovated NSK fix Karachi's hosting problems?

Several factors inhibit a good spectator experience at NSK

KARACHI:

The present redesign of National Stadium Karachi (NSK) is one of the PCB's most ambitious infrastructural projects in the last few decades, and besides showing the seriousness of the PCB in hosting the Champions Trophy 2025, will set the tone for how cricket fans in Pakistan's largest city will be watching the sport for decades to come.

Poor material infrastructure, however, has been but one of several factors inhibiting a good spectator experience at NSK. To deliver a world-class tournament, the PCB and NSK management must focus on fixing a litany of issues that have hampered fans watching cricket.

One issue remains ticketing for games. A range of systems have been trialled for recent tours and events. For New Zealand's tour of Pakistan in 2023, an online ticket service (bookme.pk) was utilized, which meant fans could purchase tickets online and download tickets on their phones to be scanned at the ground.

However, for the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2024, this system was scrapped to have a courier company (TCS) be given the license to print tickets, which also meant that fans had to have printed tickets from TCS to get access to the grounds, giving away the ease of fans downloading tickets onto their phones.

With less than 100 days to go, no ticketing service has been announced, yet that remains a pipe dream given that a schedule has also not been released yet, despite November 11 being a tentative date for it to be shared.

The worry over a delayed schedule is compounded by the fact that in recent months, the PCB had not realised that NSK was to hold two Test matches —against Bangladesh and England - and scrambled to shift venues only days before the Bangladesh series.

First it was announced that the Test was to not have any fans enter the stadium, and then the Test was altogether moved to Rawalpindi. For the England series, all Tests were moved. These quick moves inspire lesser confidence in the processes that are developing the new stadiums. Once the venue is determined and tickets are purchased, then begins the fan's journey to the stadium. NSK, however, provides no easy method of doing this, since the main entrance is closed except for VIPs (or VVIPs).

The dearth of public parking around the stadium (and the refusal to use the former parking space inside of any chartered buses) means that fans have to park haphazardly in the neighbourhoods around NSK - a less than ideal situation.